Chapter 15 - A Way Out : Part 2

Axel and Aster both were running in the hallway. The white old-school wall surrounded them as they made a move. Apparently, all the red-eyes guards on their way were already down for whatever reason. It seemed like they were just having some fights.

The worst part was, the guards had the same faces as the ones Axel already killed when they tried to get out of the iron bars room that held them in. It did not make any sense for their body to be moved to this- to this place. But then again, they had weirdly featured that Axel remembered clearly the guards did not have.

Axel saw a room that had the word 'weapons' carved on it and opened the door. He waited for Aster to get in before closing the door behind him.

The weapons were oddly... old. Everything was like from a movie. The weapons were spears, axes, crossbows, bows, swords, and shields. Axel took a crossbow and put it on his back before taking a sword with him too.

He looked towards Aster just to see his classmate was struggling with a bow while aiming at the wall. Then Aster accidentally let go and shot the display picture on the wall.

"Hell yeah, checkmate!" He exclaimed and then moved his green eyes over the mute murderer. "I took an archery class, and you can clearly see I'm the best one around."

Axel knew it was not true. He was the worst of all. But well, it was not like Axel could just say it to Aster's face. The mute murderer took an axe and offered it to Aster.

Aster blinked at the axe. "I don't need this, I have a bow already."

Axel pushed the axe to his chest and Aster struggled to hold it. The blond-haired boy stared for a moment at the axe before finally putting it on his back along with the arrows.

"Alright, whatever you say, murder boy." Shrugged Aster as he tried to aim his bow again.

And then someone opened the door.

Startled by the noise, Aster automatically shot the man at the door with the arrow that he was about to shoot to a wall. The arrow went at the man's shoulder, making him grunt and glare at him.

Realizing that the man's eyes were red, the bow in Aster's hand shook alongside his trembling self. The dirty blond-haired boy took a step back slowly and went behind the mute murderer who had already taken out his sword.

"You-" Grunted the man as he took out his sword. Axel tightened his grip on the sword, waiting for the red eyes man to attack first.

Suddenly the man lowered his sword and frowned as his red eyes met with Aster's. "Wait, you are the brother of Sir Valerian, what are you doing here?" He quizzically asked.

"You- you know my brother?" Aster popped his head from behind Axel's shoulder.

"Of course I know him." The red-eyed man answered as he put away his sword again. "He is the head guard of this place, the famous young knight of the kingdom. Everyone knows him."

As if on cue, both of the classmates turned their heads to each other, perplexed. The mute murderer raised his eyebrows toward Aster and the other boy raised his eyebrows back.

The red eyes guard pulled out the arrow in his right shoulder and Aster could not help but cringe at that. "S-sorry about that, I was startled." Said the boy apologetically.

Aster put his hand on Axel's gloved hand that's holding a sword. He lowered it down slowly and nodded at the mute murderer. The black-haired boy nodded back and put away his sword.

"It's alright, I can heal back pretty quickly." The guard uttered as the wound on his shoulder closed slowly.

Aster tried to keep a straight face as he watched the scene happen. He cleared his throat and made his usual annoying face. "So, uh, do you know where my brother is?"

Aster put away his bow and made wild gestures with his hands. "I mean, I was hanging out with my BFF here," Aster pointed his thumb to Axel.

"-and looked at the weapon and I was like 'whoa this is so cool' and went inside." He finished explaining and clasped his hand. "So, we're sorry for barging in."

The guard's wound completely healed up and nodded. "Fine, but I have to tell your brother about this."

"That's uh- fine." Aster tried to pester a smile on his face. "Can we keep these, though? The weapons are so cool." He flashed his teeth at the guard.

The guard just sighed and turned his back on Aster. "Come with me, I'll lead you to Sir Valerian's room." The guard offered and made his way out of the room.

Aster adjusted the weapons, ignoring how nervous he was. He battled his eyebrows as he followed the guard. The mute murderer quietly followed behind.

Axel frowned as he watched the guard's back. Did Aster's brother already get in here? Something was not connecting here. Something was wrong. Not to mention about the kingdom, knights, and all those weird medieval stuff.

They passed through rooms again and Axel could not help but try to remember the way. The white walls soon changed into some stone walls as they kept walking. It seemed like they already moved to another part of the 'building'.

"I'm sorry if I come out rude, but it's unusual to see demons with no red eyes. Are you boys using some enchantments?" The guard asked while kept walking in front of them, leading the way.

Axel and Aster who were walking alongside each other looked at each other's eyes again. The mute murderer tilted his head towards Aster's panicked face.

"Uh- yeah, we were playing with stuff and our eyes just changed colors on their own, pretty cool, right?" Aster brushed it off while chuckling awkwardly.

Axel stared at the man even sharper. Demons, huh? Did it mean that he was in the world where the kid in the DM-2 experiment came from? The kid that his blood they were using for those mindless red eyes people.

Everything was connecting, somehow lieutenant Valerian was involved with all of this. But it did not make any sense if Aster's brother lived here yet he was rescuing both of them. Axel was so close to figuring what was happening right now, he just needed a little more clue.

"We're here." The guard pointed at a door and moved aside, signally both of them to get in.

Aster's lips grew thin and firm as he moved forward. The mute murderer waited behind and watched while Aster brought his hand upon the door. He softly knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Who's there?" Valerian's voice called out from inside. Aster could not help but fidget in his place.

"It's Aster." The boy answered nervously. To be honest, he did not know what to expect.

"Aster?" Valerian voiced doubtfully. The sounds of footsteps from inside the room echoed and got closer.

Aster's eyes darted around as the door creaked open slowly. He finally focused on his brother in front of him. Aster could feel his heart rate increase as he saw the brother in front of him.

A red-eyed Valerian with pointed ears like some dark fairy. He would prefer fairy if he did not just learn that everyone was a demon.

His brother seemed to be taken aback by Aster's appearance but it quickly vanished as it came. Aster blinked a couple of times to actually take what was happening in front of him.

"Sir, your brother and his friend were in the weapon room earlier, they took a couple of things from there." The guard bowed to supposed-to-be Valerian. "Your brother wanted to meet you."

Valerian nodded and dismissed the guard, telling him to leave them alone. He went inside again, turned his back on the two boys while leaving the door open. He took a seat on the sofa and faced Aster again, red eyes met the green one.

"That's not my brother." Aster shakily whispered to Axel.

Axel on the other hand seemed to finally connect the dots. He just saw the guards that he eliminated earlier in here with the same faces. It was as if they were their replica. Maybe because they went through a mirror, this world was their reflection.

Did this mean the voices of his family that he heard frequently in his house were the duplicate version of them in this world? Then this brother of Aster was the duplicate of the one that they saw outside the mirror.

"What are you doing just standing there? Come inside." Valerian commanded and tilted his head to the sofa across where he sat.

Aster tugged Axel's hoodie and went inside. They looked at each other before taking a seat side by side. Ominous thoughts squirmed at the back of Aster's mind while Axel just spaced out.

Valerian raised his eyebrows as his red eyes caught the arrows and axe on Aster's back. Aster who was staring at the pseudo brother in front of him could feel the intense air between them.

Questions and doubts danced around Aster's head as he examined Valerian. He still had the same ugly blond hair. His skin was paler, not to mention the weird pointed ears and the royalty clothed. He did not have to mention the red eyes, did he?

The silence between them was fierce as they seemed lost in their own thoughts. The fireplace nearby was the only thing that lightened up the atmosphere.

"You're not my brother." A sentence slipped through Valerian's red lips as he judged Aster's appearance with his eyes. It was cold, even colder than the normal Valerian's tone.

Aster, triggered by the statement, defended himself. "And so are you! With that weird-ass ears, there's no way you're my bro- wait." Realization hit Aster and he quickly covered his mouth.

Axel sighed and put his hand on his face at Aster's foolishness. Aster tried to open his mouth to save the situation while Valerian just narrowed his bloodshot eyes.

"Wh-what do you mean? I'm totally your little brother." Aster stammered as he chuckled awkwardly.

"I'm just uh- using inclement." He darted, eyes moved around frantically. "If you're concerned about the eyes, that is."

Valerian sighed softly. "You mean enchantments?"

"Yeah, that- that thing."

Axel just wanted to disappear. He was trying to be positive about the situations this universe decided to slam to his face and found a way out, but it seemed like they would die first before that happened.

"So um, my lovely brother, do you perhaps know about mirrors?" Axel decided to change the topic. "Like- uh, like the one that we can get through magically? My best friend and I here are kind of curious about that."

Axel wished Aster would just shut his mouth for a second and stop digging their grave even further.

What Aster was saying did catch Valerian's whole attention. Red eyes turned cold at the mention of the mirror. He held his knuckle tight and clenched his jaw.

Axel just smiled at himself behind his mask at the scene in front of him. Well, this was it. Goodbye world and new weird world, it was nice while it lasted. Though he still had a chance with the sword. But considering the guard could heal himself, the chance was low.

"There are three in this area, have you seen one or two perhaps?" Valerian asked as he stood up and searched for something on his desk.

Axel blinked at the man. Well, that was unexpected. It seemed like this lieutenant or knight or whatever actually wanted to help them.

"We've seen two, but we can't get through them," Aster confessed as he watched Valerian move around.

"It's probably because one of them is already used so it has to charge back, possibly the other one only has one cursed arrow." Explained the demon while taking something inside his drawer.

Axel's blue eyes widened as he saw 'the cursed arrow' in Valerian's hand. It was the same arrows that he and Kiaran retrieved for the scientist.

"Follow me." Ushered Valerian. The guy walked out of the room, followed by two human boys behind him. The knight put the arrow inside his pocket, trying to hide it from people's sight.

The walk was quiet, only footsteps were accompanying them. Axel decided to trust this guy for now. If all come to worst, he could just stab him with his sword and flee.

"By the way, why did both of you only wear one shoe?" The question came out of nowhere, making Aster's heart almost jump out of his place.

"It's-" Aster coughed at his high-pitched voice. "It's a new style."

Axel facepalmed at the answer but decided to brush it off. He was busy thinking about the arrow that was hidden in Valerian's pocket. He believed it was the same arrow.

They arrived in a pretty dark room. Valerian ushered them inside while making sure no one was around. He turned the lights on to reveal a big mirror that covered the front wall in front of them.

The black roots were like a signature to these mirrors as they covered the edges. Valerian walked closer to the mirror and brought out the arrow from his pocket.

He put the sharp edge of the arrow to the mirror. Aster and Axel were behind, watching Valerian with mixed hope and interest.

"In the other side of the mirror, there's already a cursed arrow, we can't get through if both sides didn't have them," Valerian explained.

The black roots from the mirror's edges started to move to the arrow, surrounding it. They took the cursed arrow, swallowing the thing slowly. Then they spread even more.

Valerian took a step back and looked at the mirror again before looking at Aster's eyes. "I'm going to go now, have fun, Aster." He finished his sentence and made his way outside.

The mute murderer watched Valerian leave the room. "Okay um, see you later brother," Aster answered awkwardly.

"Take care." Valerian managed to speak before closing the door on them. Aster tried to ignore the weird sadness in his pseudo brother's eyes.

The knight took a deep sigh and closed his eyes. He waited for a moment before leaving, just wanting to make sure no one got in there.

"How did they get in here?" He mumbled to himself. The knight pushed his hair back from his forehead.

He forced his foot to move after standing in front of the room long enough. He did not show it before, but he actually panicked internally. This meant that the experiments were so close to success.

He had to find a way to prevent this. He had to stop this, but with the title 'knight' on his shoulders, he could not disobey any orders. Or maybe, maybe part of him wanted this to happen.

Valerian arrived in a room with a beautiful carving at the door. He opened the door slowly, trying not to make a loud noise. The room was full of white, the smell of medicines adorned the air.

Valerian moved closer to a bed and took a seat beside it. He looked at the person on the bed and smiled sadly.

"I meet someone that's oddly familiar." He began talking to the sleeping person.

"Someone that shouldn't be here." He continued, hand playing with the sleeping person's dirty blond hair.

"He looks so healthy and awake." The older brother traced his hand on the boy's pale face. Aster looked peaceful as he slept, dying slowly but ironically still healing.

"I wish it was you."